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iLounge Game Spotlight: Leo’s Fortune

Released in April, Leo’s Fortune ($5) has picked up steam and is now hovering near the top of the paid apps chart. A gorgeous platformer with puzzle-solving elements, the game has users maneuvering the tiny Leo through a number of different environments to retrieve his fortune.

Leo is a small furry teal ball with two blinking eyes and a large mustache, and that mustache is everything. It really makes the character. He’s seeking his fortune, which has been left for him to pick up like a trail of breadcrumbs, as gold coins guide your way through the levels. The first thing you’ll notice about the game are the stunning graphics. There have been a lot of good-looking games in the App Store recently, but Leo’s Fortune might be the best of the bunch. Though he’s just a ball of puff, Leo seems to come to life in the beautifully rendered, detailed environments. The game’s score is also great, and Leo will even throw his voice into the mix at times — he has a Russian accent for some reason, and we’re not complaining.

The game’s touch controls use the left side of the screen to move Leo left and right, and swiping the right side of the screen makes Leo go up and down. Leo can inflate and hover for a short time with an upward swipe — at times reminiscent of controlling Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2, though for a longer interval — or sink quicker with a downward swipe. The controls work well, but Leo’s general floatiness while airborne may take some getting used to. We played on an iPad mini, which we would suggest is ideal for Leo’s Fortune and other similar games. Controls can also be changed to onscreen buttons, for those who prefer that style.

Leo’s Fortune quickly proves to be a top-rate platformer with addicting gameplay. The little Leo can move through levels at a fair speed, but the levels are long enough to feel like you’ve accomplished something upon completion. This isn’t the sort of side scroller that has you fighting off enemies along the way — which isn’t a surprise, considering Leo’s complete lack of limbs. Rather, you’ll be making jumps, avoiding spikes, going underwater — tough ol’ Leo can swim for as long as necessary, unlike many platform heroes — and solving puzzles. Plenty of puzzles. The gameplay is switched up enough to never get tiresome, with surprises awaiting in every level.

Only a few minor issues keep Leo’s Fortune from earning a straight A. Leo’s floatiness may bother some at times — especially during moments where gamers need to be very precise — and sometimes the puzzles get to be a bit too much. A few times, we thought the puzzles were too long, and we just wanted to get back to exploring the levels. But again, if you’re a fan of platformers, there’s no question this game is worth the five dollars. It’s been a great stretch of new releases on iOS lately, and Leo’s Fortune is one of the very best side-scrollers available in the App Store.

Comments

1

This game is certainly beautifu, one of the prettiest I have ever seen for iOS. The killer is as you say, the “floatiness” of the character. I had to give up on the game when that floatiness made it completely impossible for me to do one of the levels. The slightest touch or hovering over the screen would send the character careening into spikes with no hope of recovery. This, plus the fact that some levels must ideally done in one compete motion ruins the gameplay for me at times. The game is so beautiful and well-constructed you want to slow down or stop and enjoy it, but you can’t. This is a flaw in a lot of platform games, not just this one.

Posted by Glenn on May 5, 2014 at 6:20 AM (CDT)

2

This game is beautiful,in both looks and gameplay.The concept of the game is to get through each level in as quick a time as possible.And with continued play,you begin to understand the reason for the floaty feel to Leo.with precise timing it is possible to totally avoid some of the puzzles and traps,thus resulting in faster times.This gives the game that all important replayability.in one of the levels I played,I looked at the leaderboards online,and realised,what i thought was a flawless run by my standards,was actually,no where near the fastest times done by other players.So I went back to that level,and changed the places I jumped,and the difference this made,was remarkable.I was soon at the top of the leaderboards,on a lot of the levels.This is what I play games for,the thrill of the chase.So if you like a challenging well constructed platformer,that plays like a gamers dream,you should get this game.